§ Mr. BOLANDasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland what steps the Department had taken to ascertain on 12th September what the wholesale price for honey had been when communicating with the Kenmare Bee Association, in view of the fact that they stated that they were not aware that the Cork firm was not buying nor that 9½d. to 11d. was the wholesale price of a fancy section; who was responsible for the correctness of the information given on Form A 268; how many men are employed, wholly or partly, by the Department in the bee-keeping industry, and what salaries are they 915W paid; how much money has been spent during the last ten years by the Department on this industry; and whether the money so spent will be expended in future in the interest of struggling bee associations rather than to the advantage of middlemen?
§ Mr. DUKEThe Department obtain from time to time, but not from day to day, wholesale and retail prices of honey through their marketing inspectors, from buyers and from sellers, and intending sellers who communicate with the Department are, as far as possible, placed in touch with probable buyers. As to the facts regarding the information supplied in the particular instance under notice, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to-day to his question on the subject. The Department directly employ one bee-keeping expert at a salary of £150 per annum, whose travelling expenses amounted to an average of £117 per annum during the past ten years. His duties include dealing with foul brood and Isle of Wight diseases in bees, in addition to giving instruction in bee-keeping. There are also forty-two instructors in bee-keeping working under the county committees of agriculture, whose salaries and expenses are defrayed out of the joint fund administered by these committees. During the past ten years the Department have expended a total sum of £646 in Grants to the Irish Beekeepers' Association for the instruction and organisation of bee-keepers and in sundry expenses. The Department are not aware that there is any foundation for the suggestion contained in the concluding portion of the question.
§ Mr. BOLANDasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he can state why the Department of Agriculture tried, on the 12th September, to obtain at a low price a twelve-dozen box of demonstration honey from the Kenmare Bee Association; why did they give the association to understand that 7½d. was the standard wholesale price of a fancy section, delivered free in Dublin, when a conference of their own experts, with others, held at the office of the Department, had decided that 1s. ought to be the wholesale price of this section; whether he is aware that this price was afterwards exceeded by sales in different parts of Ireland; what would be the value of this section to the producer when this box of honey was delivered free in Dublin at 7½d. per section; why was the advice of the conference afterwards ignored, and at whose instigation; 916W were the person or persons who caused it to be ignored interested, directly or indirectly, in the I.A.W.S. or in any other middleman; and did the experts, or any of them, approve of the action of the Department in quoting this low price?
§ Mr. DUKEAs the hon. Member was informed in reply to a question on the 16th ultimo, the Department did not endeavour to purchase honey from the Kenmare Bee-keepers' Association, but offered to dispose of the small quantity of honey used for instruction purposes at a price justified by the wholesale price ruling in Dublin. The Department intimated that that price was believed to be about 7s. 6d. per dozen for first-grade sections. If the honey had been sent to the Department, it would have been disposed of at the best price obtainable. The office conference referred to was held in Dublin on 12th July, when honey was scarce and dear, and was an informal conference attended by members of the staff of the marketing section and by two bee-keepings experts, also connected with the Department' s marketing work. The Department were not in any way bound by recommendations or suggestions made at this conference, and were entirely uninfluenced by any trade interests in the matter. The value of honey to the producer would depend mainly on the cost of marketing, which, of course, varies under different conditions.
§ Mr. BOLANDasked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) why, after the Department had induced Messrs. Cook and M'Neily, of Sligo, to expend a considerable sum of money in preparing a store and plant for honey-buying, the name of this firm was withheld from the Kenmare Bee Association; how many other firms of honey buyers in Ireland were suppressed when Form A 268 was sent to the association; and why were only the names of three firms supplied, one of which was not buying honey then or since?
§ Mr. RUSSELLHaving regard to the small quantity of honey involved in the transaction referred to, the Department were of opinion that the list of six names (not three as alleged in question) of wholesale buyers furnished to the Kenmare Bee-keepers' Association was sufficient for the purpose. It is not customary or desirable in cases of this sort to furnish exhaustive lists of buyers.